Gulab Jamun

Gulab Jamun is among India's most popular sweets! It consists of dumplings traditionally made of thickened or reduced milk, soaked in rose flavored sugar syrup. It gets its name from two words: Gulab which means rose (for the rose flavored syrup) and Jamun which is a kind of deep purple colored Indian berry (the cooked dumplings are dark brown in colour). 

This was the first time I made gulab jamuns at home from scratch. I have always made them using mixes earlier. They came out too good!!

I adopted the recipe from here.

Ingredients

For the dumplings

Unsweetened kova - 1/4 kg
All purpose flour / maida - 1 1/2 cup
Ghee - 1 tblsp
Baking soda - 1 pinch
Milk enough to make the dough

For the syrup

Sugar - 3 cups
Water - 3 cups
Cardamom powder - 1 pinch

Directions

Add the ghee to the flour and rub in with fingers to form a crumbly mixture. Add the kova and baking soda. Sprinkle some milk just enough to knead into a soft smooth dough. The dough should have a very smooth texture. Roll into small  lemon sized balls. Cover with a tea towel and allow to rest for sometime.

Meanwhile prepare the sugar syrup. In a saucepan, add the sugar and water and bring it to a boil. Add the cardamom powder. Simmer until the syrup thickens.

In a heavy bottomed vessel add oil to about 1 1/2 inches height. Keep the flame in low heat. Add the balls carefully and deep fry them in batches until they turn golden brown.This might take about 3 to 4 minutes. Drain the deep fried dumplings in paper towels. Drop them in the warm sugar syrup.

Leave aside for at least half an hour for the dumplings to get soaked in the sugar.

Enjoy!

Sending these sweet dumplings to Sweet Series: Milk sweets Spongy texture hosted by Paajaka

If you like my entries Cheese stuffed Jalapenos and Spinach Cheese Swirls for MBP:CHeese please vote here